A Consequence of Rage
by White Wolf1
Summary: Will Scarlet's rage has finally driven him to commit the unthinkable.


(I don't own these characters. No profit, just entertainment.)

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A CONSEQUENCE OF RAGE

by White Wolf

Will Scarlet was in one of his foul moods -- again. The man could be happy at times. He enjoyed the games the outlaws sometimes engaged in. He laughed, and he definitely had tender moments when his compassion flowed freely. But, rage was always under the surface. Ever since his wife, Elena, was raped and murdered, he couldn't seem to shake the dark side of his personality. 

On this day, he picked a fight with everyone. No one could say anything to him without receiving a surly response. Sometimes he lashed out when no one was even speaking to him. He griped about the food, about the weather, about the hard ground. Even Much's humming got to him. It finally reached the point when, one by one, all the outlaws left, using one excuse or another. Only Robin was left.

"Well, aren't you going to leave, too?" Will demanded.

"Is that what you want me to do?" Robin asked calmly. He was sharpening his knife, and he continued without looking up.

"You're the leader here, do what you like," Will said in a dismissive tone.

Robin stopped in mid-stroke and looked up at his irritated friend. "Isn't there anything I can do to help you?" His demeanor was that of a parent trying to sort out an errant child.

"Oh, that's great, that is. Now, you want to fix me, so I quit offending everybody. Right?" Will was both angry and disgusted with the interminable attempts to "help" him. "Maybe I should just leave and go back to Lichfield."

'Well, that's different. You usually tell _me _to go back to Huntingdon." Robin stood up and smiled, but Will didn't respond. Robin took on a more serious tone. "I hate to see you so miserable." 

Will walked up to Robin and shook his finger in Robin's face. "I don't need you to tell me how to feel." 

"I just want to help."

"You want to help? Fine. Then leave me alone!" Will yelled. He turned and stalked away, stopping several feet from the campfire. He was fuming. He didn't stop to think about why Robin had offered his help. He just wanted him to mind his own business. 

Robin was determined to do something to ease his friend's misery. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong way to do it. "I know you can't forget what happened to your wife..."

Will snapped, and Robin didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. Will swung around, swiftly covering the few feet between them, and lunged at Robin, his hands closing around Robin's neck. Will's momentum caused them both to fall over, with Will landing on top. He sat up on his knees with his legs straddling Robin, whose left arm was pinned under him. Will was raging and squeezing with all his might. Robin tried to struggle, but the wind had been knocked out of him when he fell, and Will wasn't letting any more air in. 

Robin tried to grab one of Will's hands with his free hand and pull it away from his throat, but he couldn't break the iron grip. Will's face was red, and Robin's was rapidly turning blue. He tried twisting his body to push Will off, but Will's weight was firmly on the ground. Robin then bent his legs up and hit Will in the back with his knees. It pushed Will forward a little but otherwise had no effect. Robin put his feet on the ground and tried to push his body upwards. He couldn't summon enough strength to do any good. Lights exploded in his head. One thought flashed through his mind; 'Is this the way I'm going to die, at the hands of a friend?' Then everything went black.

Will's rage wasn't spent. He continued to squeeze with both hands. Robin's arm dropped away and fell out by his side. Will watched it as if it was happening in slow motion, Then he looked at Robin, who had ceased to struggle. Will's eyes got big, as he seemed to see, for the first time, what he was doing. He jerked his hands away. Robin lay motionless.

"Robin," Will said in a meek voice. He shook Robin and called his name again in a questioning tone. "Robin?" He picked Robin's arm up and dropped it. It fell limply back to the ground. He then put his fingers beside Robin's neck. He couldn't feel a pulse. Will was horrified. He jumped up and stood staring down at his young leader. He continually shook his head. "I killed him. I killed him. I killed Robin." He said the words out loud, but he still didn't believe those words. Someone else must be saying them, and they were wrong. They had to be wrong, didn't they? Robin can't be dead, and he, Will, can't have been the one to do it.

Will knelt down and shook Robin again. "Robin, I'm sorry. There, you got me to say it. So, you can get up now." There was no response. Will knelt there for a long time. He knew Robin was dead. He knew he had killed him it in an out-of-control fit of rage. He shook his head again. How could he have done that? How could he get angry enough to kill the man he had vowed to follow to the end? But, not his kind of end! 

Will closed his eyes. He saw the image of him on top of Robin, squeezing the life out of him. And poor Robin, knowing he was dying at the hands of a man he trusted with his life. And now, that man had taken his life, because he couldn't control his emotions. "_No! No! It's not true!" _He put his hands over both of his ears to shut out his own screaming.

Will knelt there, not moving. Then, with a sigh of resignation, he took both of Robin's arms and gently placed them across Robin's stomach. He reached up and put his hand on Robin's golden hair and began to cry.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Robin thought that he had opened his eyes, but everything was black. Not just dark but black. There wasn't a speck of light anywhere. He got to his feet and put his hand right at the end of his nose. He couldn't detect it. He couldn't even sense it's presence. For a moment he thought he had gone blind. In a bit of a panic, he called out for his men. He called each of their names. The only sound was his own voice repeating the names. Echoes. He must be in some kind of tunnel. 

Robin walked forward, holding out his hands and trying to feel his way. He moved several feet to his right until he felt a stone wall. It didn't make sense. He had been at camp in a clearing in the forest. He had been talking to Will, who had been in a foul mood and driven everyone else away. Then... Then what? He couldn't remember, except that he woke up here. 'How did I get here?' he asked himself. 'Where is here?' 

He felt along the wall. It was dry and rough. He again called his men. Again, the only answers were echoes. 

Suddenly, he saw a tiny light in the distance. Robin's knees got weak from sheer relief. He had no idea what it was. It may turn out to be something he would regret finding out about, but at least, he wasn't blind. When he put his hand up to his forehead, he discovered that his hair was damp, and it was then he realized he was sweating. There wasn't much else to do but head toward the light, so he started in that direction.

For a long time, the light didn't seem to be getting any closer. He kept moving forward, because he was sure that it was his only salvation. There was only the encompassing blackness behind him. The floor was relatively level, but every so often he would trip over a loose rock or step into a depression. Fortunately, he kept his balance, due mainly to the presence of the tunnel wall. Once he bumped his head on a low-hanging outcrop. He rubbed the sore spot and kept going.

After a while, the light got larger and brighter. Then a strange thing happened. The closer he got to the light, the more his throat began to hurt. His head was pounding. Despite the increasing pain, he kept moving toward the light. Before long, he saw that the light was at the entrance to the tunnel, and it was so bright that he couldn't see anything beyond the opening. 

Through the pain and brightness, he thought he heard a voice. He thought it was Will's voice. He couldn't make out what Will was saying. He was sure he also heard sobbing. He decided not to try to figure it out. His head hurt too much, and he wanted to keep all his focus on getting to the entrance. He could try to figure it out later.

Near the entrance, in the brilliant light, he believed he caught a glimpse of Herne. The Lord of the Trees would explain all of this to him. It spurred him forward as fast as he dared go. He reached the entrance and fell into the light.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Will finally looked up. He wiped the tears away and took a deep breath. How was he going to tell the others that he, a friend Robin trusted, had killed him in an uncontrolled moment of rage? They would hate him and rightly so. He would be driven out of the group, if they didn't kill him first. He would spend his life in guilt and shame, haunted by nightmares, and then he'd die an early death from drunkenness. These thoughts frightened him even though he knew he deserved it and more.

Will looked at Robin again. In utter despair and desperation, he said, "I promise I won't ever argue with you again. I won't ever tell you to go back to Huntingdon. I'll never complain about a thing. I'll do whatever you say without a word, I promise. Just please wake up," he begged. He knew how crazy and useless it was. He didn't care. Somewhere in a small part of his mind, he still refused to believe that Robin was really dead. 

Will nearly jumped out of his skin when Robin jerked. Suddenly, Robin rolled onto his left side, away from Will, and began sucking air in and then coughing it out violently.

Will stared, his eyes huge in total shock. For a minute, he didn't move, couldn't have moved if he had seen a wild boar charging him. The sound of Robin gasping for air finally penetrated his stupor and spurred him into action. He jumped over Robin and bent down in front of him. He wasn't sure what he should do to help. He thought maybe he should hit Robin a few times on the back, but he was afraid he might cause more harm. He knew his heart wouldn't be able to stand it if Robin 'died' again. In the end, he just knelt there helplessly.

Gradually, Robin gained control, though he was still distressed, breathing as hard as if he had been running uphill. He opened his eyes and saw Will a few inches from his face. "Will," he gasped.

"Robin," Will said, relief evident in his voice. "What can I do?"

"Help me sit up."

Will helped Robin into a sitting position. He kept his hand on Robin's back, unconsciously rubbing it, totally unaware of the metal rings on Robin' tunic, that were scraping the palm of his hand. He leaned back to give Robin room.

It took several more minutes before Robin could breathe normally. He looked at Will, confusion reflected on his flushed face.

"I thought you were dead," Will blurted out.

"Why? What happened?" Robin frowned. He was clearly puzzled. He may be having a hard time coughing, but why would Will think he'd died?

"You don't remember?" Will asked in disbelief. How could he forget he had just been choked to death, or nearly to death, or whatever had happened? Will was every bit as confused as Robin was.

Robin shook his head. He rubbed his throat, which still hurt. His head ached as well. His left arm was tingling as if it was just coming back from being numb. That confused him even more.

Will sat down beside Robin. He had to tell him. Even if he had known Robin would never remember what he did, he couldn't keep it a secret. Besides that, Robin would never have let him avoid explaining the things he had already said.

Robin was still rubbing first his throat and then his arm. Gifted with patience, he waited.

Will told the story as it had unfolded starting from the time the others had left camp because of Will's behavior and ending with Robin waking up. "I truly believed I had killed you. I never meant it. That doesn't change what I did. I know that," said a contrite Will. He hung his head in abject shame. 

Robin looked at his friend. This time his expression was unreadable. Without a comment on Will's story, he began relating what he remembered about the tunnel and the light. 

Will nodded. "What you must have heard was me telling you to wake up. I begged over and over. I'm glad you listened." Under ordinary circumstances, that last statement would have brought a smile to both of their faces. Not this time. 

Robin said, "I believe it was Herne I saw, and he somehow saved me. As for you, I've always believed that your anger would eventually get you into more trouble than you could handle. I guess, I never thought that you would turn it on me like this."

"I made you a promise, while..." Will's voice trailed off. Then, he told Robin about the promise. 

"I appreciate that, Will, but don't make a promise you can't keep." Robin spoke with no bitterness. He knew Will. He knew his friend would never be able to keep that promise no matter how badly he wanted to, and he didn't want him feeling bad about it every time he broke it. What Robin said next was designed to ease Will's guilt. "I release you from that promise."

"Release me? What are you talking about?" Will had raised his voice but quickly lowered it. 

"You are who you are, Will. I would love it if you weren't so angry all the time, for your own sake as well as the rest of us. I want all of you to be happy. I don't want you to add even more guilt when you get into your next argument with me."

"I won't, argue I mean," Will said defensively. He looked Robin straight in the eye. "I won't. You can't imagine what it was like seeing you lying there dead and knowing that I had done it. I can never forget that." Will looked at Robin's composed face a long time. "Don't you hate me?"

"No, Will, I don't hate you." 

"You must. You said something I didn't like, and because I was in a bad mood, I jumped you and tried to _kill_ you. That's so outrageous I still can't believe it myself. Don't you want revenge? How can you not hate me?"

"I understand you, Will."

"That doesn't excuse what I did."

"No, it doesn't. But, tell me, how would getting even do either of us any good? It would only create bad blood between us. We all have a hard enough time surviving out here without us being at each other's throat." There was no humor in those words as Robin rubbed his own throat again. "I'll always worry about you, Will. I don't want your temper to get you into trouble that you can't get out of, or worse, that you can't get someone else out of. I released you from one promise, so I'll ask another one of you instead."

"Anything," Will said eagerly.

"The arguments I can handle, but when you next lose your temper, promise me you'll _try_ to think before you act. All right?"

Will considered what Robin asked. He nodded. "I promise."

Robin, never able to stay serious for too long, said, "Can I strangle you, if you break that promise?"

The two men were both laughing when the rest of the outlaws returned to camp. They were pleased to see the situation had greatly improved, at least until Will got into another foul mood. 

At that moment, though, Robin and Will were too happy to worry about the future.


End file.
